Cha-cha starts in January

MANILA, Philippines – The process of amending the Constitution – including the push for federalism – will start in January next year or after the approval of the national budget, congressional leaders said yesterday.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez disclosed the plan after meeting over breakfast with other congressional leaders in Mandaluyong City where issues on the mode of Charter change, and voting of the two chambers were discussed.

“Definitely between now and November, we’ll prioritize the deliberations of the (national) budget for 2017 so after that by January, both Houses can start talking about the revision (of the Constitution),” Alvarez told reporters after the meeting.

Pimentel said the proposed 2017 national budget is also a priority “but in our private time, we’ll be reading the Constitution so that we’ll be ready for whatever happens.”

Also present during the breakfast meeting were Senate Majority Leader Ralph Recto, Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto, Senators Loren Legarda and Joseph Victor Ejercito, and House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas.

The congressional leaders said they agreed to meet regularly for closer coordination between the two chambers.

“There’s no bad news arising out from this meeting – all good news because we will continue these regular meetings which will help us in legislation,” Pimentel said.

Amending the Constitution in preparation for a change in the form of government to a federal system was one of the campaign promises of President Duterte, who won overwhelmingly in the elections.

The latest Pulse Asia survey showed Filipinos divided over Charter change with the percentage of those opposing it slightly higher than those in favor.

Alvarez said he hopes Duterte would  form a constitutional commission that would write the proposed amendments while Congress is busy deliberating on the budget.

He said he is drafting a proposed executive order creating the commission as requested by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.

‘Constituent assembly’

Also discussed in the meeting was the issue of whether the Senate and the House would vote separately or jointly in case they convene as a constituent assembly to work on Charter change.

During the meeting, Pimentel made it clear to Alvarez that all 24 senators would not agree to a separate voting as they would certainly be overwhelmed by their counterparts in the House which has 290 members.

 “As long as our intentions are the same, I don’t think there’ll be a problem with that (separate voting),” Alvarez said.

“We have no decision yet. It was a free flowing discussion which we agreed to continue as often as possible,” Pimentel said, adding, “we have to continue meeting as we have agreed upon.”

Sotto and Ejercito said it appeared the matter of the voting has been clarified.

“I think it was clear to all of us that it (voting) was separately. In this case, it was silent, but Congress, by the definition of the Constitution, is bicameral, so it should necessarily follow that voting should be separate,” Recto said.

He said he was in favor of con-ass being “more practical, more pragmatic,” but added he would push for changes in the economic provisions.

Pimentel said the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, chaired by Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon, would continue its hearings on measures seeking to amend the Constitution through a constitutional convention (con-con).

Drilon has filed a bill seeking the creation of a con-con to review the Charter. Pimentel however said a resolution calling for a con-ass would have to be tackled on the floor. – With Delon Porcalla